Monday, October 20, 2008

I Walked at Midnight

Thus begins another All Ace Week. And kicking it off is a story that is visually unlike anything I’ve ever seen from this publisher (anyone know that artist?) …there are a couple panel grotesqueries in particular that would make even 'Ghastly' Graham Ingels shudder!

12 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Whoever did this really knocked themselves out to imitate Ingels,but you're right,it's even MORE creepy than anything he ever did,especially the skulls!!!.i would say the color is what contributes to the mood and odd look of the story.

Welcome to Elden. Let´s see, there are unexplained deaths for 20 years on the cemetary, which a) didn´t keep those horny teenagers away and b) don`t really interest the police. Lock the damn cemetary and everything is okay :-) No teen would ever get the idea to climb over the fence. (Okay, maybe not in 1952 :-)

And then we discover there wasn´t one vampire in the town, but two, chained in the respective attic of their familiy houses. Which also didn´t interest anybody. What a community! :-)

Yeah really: "Vampires in the cemetery!?! What nonsense! We haven't had vampires in town for months. Ever since the last one died and we buried her in the cemetery with the other vampires. Hey, wait a minnit...."

Wow the art here was fabulous. Expressive and just pregnant with living lines and emotion. Some panels even seem as raw and nervy as woodcuts. Even those panels of people sitting around chatting managed to sidestep the inertness of typical comic sweatshop illustration. It really seems as if the artist was given greater latitude than normal by the writer, too. There are some fairly esoteric panels of shadows falling cross gravestones (and whatnot) that are in no way indicative of the usual ham-handed suspicion that comics readers rely on visuals to merely underscore the narrative.

Honestly, I don't see much similarity with Ingels at all. I like Ghastly, but his stuff is rarely this freewheeling, and I rarely consider blowing his panels up and hanging them in the gallery between the Bacons and the Masereels.

THOSE WEIRD POINTY VAMPIRE FACES ARE SO TOTALLY GRAHAM INGELS. EVEN COLLIS THE UNDERTAKER IN PANEL 2 LOOKS LIKE SOMETHING GHASTLY WOULD HAVE COME UP WITH. OTHER THAN THAT I AGREE WITH CALVIN ABOUT THE FANTASTIC ART AND ALSO THE CRAZY COLOR JOB. THE FIRST SHOT OF MARELLA PEEKING THROUGH THE LOCKED CEMETARY GATES WITH THE CLOCK TOWER BEHIND HER IS JUST GORGEOUS. I ALSO LOVE THE SHOT OF HER CREEPING UP ON OSCAR ON THE LAST PAGE WITH HER HANDS UP, TOO COOL.

This looks like it could have been penciled by Ingels, but lacks his gorgeous painterly inking. The spot-blacks are really solid, but there's a choppy quality to the line-work that reminds me more of early Feldstein.

On the plus side, marella doesn't look like a transvestite. I never understood Ghastly's fascination with lantern-jawed females. Cool story, though. Very episodic. It seems odd at first that the two find themselves locked in this cometary and strike up a casual conversation. But they're both vampires, so it works. The shot on page seven of her sneaking up on him looks like some kind of mantis-style kung-fu. The old knee to the spine ploy, to be exact!

Does anyone know how Casper the Friendly Ghost died? Was he bludgeoned and dragged behind a car or something?

Does anyone know how Casper the Friendly Ghost died? Was he bludgeoned and dragged behind a car or something?

The original cartoons were never clear on exactly how Casper came to be a ghost. In the 60s and 70s, the studio's premise was that he was "born" that way, to ghost parents. The movie claims that Casper died of pneumonia.

Now to today's story. I really enjoyed it. I like the fact that both vampires had emotions, even consciences, capable of mercy and compassion (though not to the point of forfeiting their own existence--typical vampire behavior).

Great story, Karswell! This was one of the most suspenseful pre-code horror comics I've come across so far. I had no idea where the tale was going until page 6. The skeletal narrator was an interesting touch. It gave the whole thing an almost surreal feel. The colors were a bit too gaudy for my taste at times, but other than that, I really liked the art, too.

To dr.specter:I think Marvel did a parody in CRAZY magazine in the '70's called "Kaspar the dead baby" which revealed the reason Casper had no features like ears,etc. was because his dad cut them off before killing him and his mom for insurance,it's my preffered version of Casper's origin at least.and as for Ghastly's lanter-jawed girls being ugly,that's only because you've never dated one!.rrow.

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